Eventbrite, and certain approved third parties, use functional, analytical and tracking cookies (or similar technologies) to understand your event preferences and provide you with a customised experience. By closing this banner or by continuing to use Eventbrite, you agree. For more information please review our cookie policy.

Event Information

Date and Time

Location

Auditorium

Australian Centre on China in the World

188 Fellows Lane, Australian National University

Acton, ACT 2601

Australia

Event description

Description

Across medicine, business and government, there's no simpler or more powerful tool for finding out what works than a randomised experiment. Investigating everything from jails to ad campaigns, philanthropy to schools, the randomistas are building evidence and busting myths.

Randomised tests are carried out on us every day: by supermarkets, search engines, online dating sites and direct marketers. Political parties use randomised trials to win elections. But how do these tests work? Are there any ethical issues? And what do they reveal about our choices?

In Randomistas, Andrew Leigh tells the stories of radical researchers who overturned conventional wisdom in medicine, politics, economics, law enforcement and more. From curing scurvy to raising literacy, randomistas have shaped life as we know it - but they often had to fight to conduct their trials and have their findings implemented

Andrew Leigh is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Federal Member for Fenner in the Australian Parliament. Prior to being elected in 2010, he was a professor of economics at the Australian National University. Andrew holds a PhD in public policy from Harvard, having graduated from the University of Sydney with first-class honours in Law and Arts. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences and a past recipient of the Economic Society of Australia's 'Young Economist Award'. Andrew is a keen marathon runner and hosts a podcast titled 'The Good Life' on living a happy, healthy and ethical life. His books include Disconnected (2010), Battlers and Billionaires (2013), The Economics of Just About Everything (2014), The Luck of Politics (2015), and Choosing Openness (2017). Andrew lives in Canberra with his wife, Gweneth, and their three sons.